


to guide you through this

by littledust



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:23:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3251297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littledust/pseuds/littledust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Come with me if you want to live," the man says, with all the inflections of a quotation, of a <i>joke</i>, except Natasha has never heard anything more serious in her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to guide you through this

**Author's Note:**

  * For [metonymy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/metonymy/gifts).



> For the prompt: "And you don't need the light / to guide you through this"

"Come with me if you want to live," the man says, with all the inflections of a quotation, of a _joke_ , except Natasha has never heard anything more serious in her life.

Over the gunfire, Natasha replies, "That's an interesting question." Her body provides the answer, sure in ways her mind never will be after the Red Room. It wants to live, and so Natasha runs after the man from SHIELD, changing sides as easily as, well, a hired gun.

Their escape is going well until the explosives Natasha planted the day before go off ten minutes before they're supposed to. The electricity stutters and dies. Hissing in annoyance, Natasha kicks the last of their pursuers with more force than necessary and says, "Not that way. This way."

"You can see in the dark, too?" says the man from SHIELD, but his breath hitches around this joke, pain underneath. Nothing vital, nothing that will slow them down, or he'd say something. Natasha doesn't question how she knows this; it's her profession to read people, even with all the lights out.

It's not the most impossible escape Natasha has ever made. She has the layout of the building memorized, and her ex-client wasn't clever enough to _move_ the explosives, just pull the trigger early. What feels impossible is doing it with someone at her side, someone whose name she won't know until they're miles away.

_Yes,_ she should have answered. _I can see in the dark._


End file.
